Prayers to the Moon
by Cantoris
Summary: Under the full moon, our doubts and hopes are revealed. Even unspoken, our prayers can be answered. Yue, Katara, Suki, Sokka.
1. Cleansing Water

I've been watching the reruns lately, and a few little ideas have popped into my head. Please enjoy.

_Katara: Cleansing Water_

The full moon rose over Ember Island and Katara went down to the beach to greet it. It was the first full moon after they had fled the western air temple and settled in Zuko's family's vacation home. It still itched under Katara's skin, feeling so exposed, but she trusted Zuko. Dear Spirits, she actually trusted Zuko.

The sky was dark and clear, the moon a vibrant, white light that shimmered in the water's reflection and bathed Katara in glowing power. She hadn't felt this strong in awhile.

She also hadn't practiced water bending for sheer pleasure in awhile either. Lately, it had been training and honing her skills, ever mindful of the eclipse, or now the comet. Up to her waist in the surf, Katara almost purred, feeling the gentle lapping waves against her body, and the ever-present push and pull of the moon on the tides. On her.

She moved and the water moved with her, as fluid as life and constant as breath. The sea salt filled her nostrils, the crashing surf on the beach filled her ears, and though her eyes were closed, the vision of the moon filled her mind. It was all so perfect.

And then Katara felt more of a pull in her body and her memory, of how her power could be used with the power of the moon behind her. She could stop the war, just by bending the Firelord, maybe killing him herself to spare Aang the stain of blood.

Katara cried out and collapsed into the waves, sinking under the surface without thought and bending around her face to breathe instinctively. Her tears mingled into the seawater as she sobbed her distress, appalled at the lure bloodbending still offered her.

"Katara."

She straightened, breaking the surface of the water and stared in shock at the sight in front of her. From the moon came a more glorious light that fell in beams across the sheltered bay. Out of the light, came Yue.

"Oh, Katara."

Katara stared as girl-turned-spirit joined her in the water, her flowing white hair and clothes shifting under the influence of invisible currents. Katara froze as Yue drew closer; she had never been as close to the girl in life as her brother had been. With Yue now representing the Moon Spirit and Katara having tainted herself with Hama's teaching, she felt shame and dread. Had Yue come to pass judgment on her?

Strong, yet ethereal arms encircled her, pulling her close into light and warmth.

"I don't understand," Katara admitted softly, leaning into the embrace. "I've done such horrible things lately. And just now, I was still thinking about bloodbending and even killing—"

"Hush, now," Yue crooned, beginning to rock Katara to the rhythm of the tides. "You have always followed your heart. You know better than most there are two sides to water. The waves cradle you one day and dash you upon the rocks the next. That is its nature, its balance."

"But the bloodbending," Katara protested. "And I almost killed that man."

"Death comes to us all," Yue pointed out gently. "At times, we are the instruments of death to keep life's cycle turning. Don't seek to murder, Katara, that is not the path. But don't punish yourself for your faults." Yue drew back slightly and waited for Katara to meet her eyes. "That's Zuko's job."

Katara giggled as Yue had intended.

"Bend with me."

Katara fell back into the water, drawing it around her and Yue in rivers and streams floating in the air. Eventually, Yue left, leaving Katara to stand alone in the moon's shining beams. She bended the water around her until the moon gave way for the sun. She came to rest on the beach, watching the sky lighten.

"Katara!"

In the dawning light, Sokka, Aang, and Zuko came pelting down the sand to where she was seated. Sokka skidded to a halt, planting his hands on his knees and panting with exertion while Aang fell into a lotus seat beside her. Zuko stopped several feet away, crossed his arms over his chest, and waited.

"Are you okay?" Aang asked. "We woke up and you weren't there."

Katara smiled as Sokka still seemed half- asleep. "I'm all right," she assured them. "In fact, I'm better than I have been in awhile."

She stood up and hugged Aang who had stood with her. She walked over to Sokka and kissed his cheek, feeling in her heart that Yue would have wanted to pass that along even if the girl spirit hadn't asked. As she made her way back to the house, Katara passed Zuko who watched her carefully. She squeezed his shoulder in passing and continued on her way, leaving behind three very confused boys.

Katara smiled, feeling the moon's light remain with her throughout the day like a promise.


	2. Blessing

This was the interaction that I first wanted to write. I've still got one more in the works, but I think that's it.

Happy reading.

_Suki: Blessing_

It was cold in the south pole. Suki had expected it, had been warned by almost everyone that it was like another world compared to the Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation which she was familiar with.

After Sozin's Comet, and Zuko's coronation, Suki had rejoined her Kyoshi Warriors, traveled to Ba Sing Se briefly, before returning home to Kyoshi Island. Suki had no family to return to, her parents having passed before Aang's arrival and being an only child. It had given her the motivation to train and become the girls' leader.

Sokka and Katara had also gone home with their father to rebuild their village with help from Pakku and other Northern waterbenders and people looking for new beginnings. Aang and Toph had tackled the colonies as peacekeepers in the transition, though each in their own style. Iroh had reclaimed his tea shop and Zuko had stayed in the palace to stabilize the nation and handle the malcontents.

They had all come full circle, and in some moments, Suki almost wondered if the whole past year had actually happened. But then she saw Ty Lee training with the girls, or heard news of another village that Aang had helped. Or received a messenger hawk from Sokka that made her smile and blush at the same time.

She missed him, pure and simple. She had missed him before so it wasn't a new sensation, but this time was infinitely stronger. She understood that they all had their places and tasks at home, but every day was spent longing for her warrior.

So, the first time Aang had visited Kyoshi Island on his rounds—and to give elephant koi surfing another go—Suki had passed on her headdress to Nini, said farewell to the village elder and hitched a ride south with the accommodating Avatar and Appa.

Sokka's face had been priceless.

And then he had tackled her into a snow drift in front of his father, grandmother, sister, and the rest of the village. Adjusting after that was deceptively easy. Where Hakoda and Pakku worked on the village's construction to accommodate for the increased population, she and Sokka became the trainers for all the prospective warriors. They spent their days fighting and flirting as Sokka covered sword and spear and Suki passed taught a new group of girls how to use the deceptively delicate fans.

Which brought her to her current situation: engaged to the young man who had offended her as a boy, grown on her as a student, rescued her from prison—or at least gave her the opening—and fought with her as an equal to end a century long war. When Sokka had presented her with a necklace choker, she had been touched that in lieu of carving a blue stone as was traditional, he had forged a gold medallion that almost exactly matched the decals that had been on her uniform which she still kept bundled up in her belongings.

That night was a full moon, after Suki watched Katara slip out, Suki herself left the hut that she shared with the master water bender, her soon to be sister-in-law and walked to the edge of the ice to the frigid water.

Once there, Suki gazed at the moon and considered what to do next. The story had come in pieces over months of time, but Suki had heard learned everything about Yue, the princess from the north.

"I don't know if you can hear me," Suki started hesitantly. "I don't know what would have happened if you had lived. But I know that you loved him." Suki smiled. "He's actually very easy to love."

"Yes, he is."

Suki looked over to her left and saw a white-haired and white-clad girl half standing and half floating. Having never seen the girl before, Suki nevertheless recognized who she must be.

"Yue."

The girl spirit smiled and settled closer to Suki. When she was close enough, Yue reached out an ethereal finger and gently touched the gold pendant at Suki's throat. Yue smiled again.

"He still prays to me," Yue confided. "I hope it doesn't bother you."

Suki examined herself for jealousy, surprised to find none. "Not really. If there's anyone who has enough room in his heart for both of us, it's Sokka."

"Yes, that's true. He'll always be with me, and you will always be with me."

Suki raised her eyebrows in question.

"You can love him like I can't. You can be at his side and support him like I can't, and probably never could. You are a part of him and so a part of me. My eyes will always be on you and your children and your children's children."

The next morning, Suki kissed Sokka with passion and fire and promise. He stared at her in wonder and adoration, kissing her back.

Months later, Aang performed their bonding ceremony under the light of the full moon. Suki saw Yue's face in the moon's light, smiling her blessing on them.


	3. My Song in the Night

This is the end for Prayers to the Moon. This has been nice and comforting for me and I hope you all have enjoyed it as well.

_Sokka: Song in the Night_

It was a ritual that Sokka had done with all his children. On the first full moon after each had been born, he had bundled up his son or daughter and taken them out among the stars and moon's glow, presenting them to his first love and guiding spirit.

The South Pole was a rival for its northern sister after more than a decade of work and design. Katara's water bending school, open to both sexes, had drawn in many students at first and increased the number of benders who could construct the fortress and defensive walls; peace hadn't fully settled in yet and Sokka hadn't survived Sozin's war by growing complacent.

And even after Katara had moved to the Fire Nation, one of her students remained to continue the school. The village was growing larger and stronger and Sokka was there through it all. His father was chief again and Sokka had his beautiful wife and beautiful children. Life was good.

So good that Sokka always remembered to thank the girl he knew was watching over him. He could still see her clearly in his mind as if it had been yesterday that he had seen her for the first time, stunned and amazed. He hadn't seen her in fifteen years, but her face was etched in his memory.

Suki was asleep, or faking it, he could never tell. With their previous three children, Sokka noticed his wife smiling at him more than usual, the day after his night-time presentation. If she was aware of his activities, she never said a word, and for that, Sokka loved her more.

He wasn't keeping it a secret, exactly. And it wasn't that he wanted to hide his devotion from Suki as he had already told her every nuance of his first love story before he had even presented her with the betrothal necklace. But this small act under the full moon was as personal as it got for Sokka. Aang might be able to contact to the spirit world—Sokka had never asked who he encountered and the younger man had never offered—and Katara might feel some connection through her water bending, but this was Sokka's and Sokka's alone.

Two sons, one a bender, and a daughter had certainly kept Sokka and Suki busy. At ten, seven, and three years old, they hadn't been expecting any more children and were content, if frazzled, trying to keep up with the rambunctious lot. When Suki had announced she was pregnant again, they had been thrilled if exasperated already at the thought of another set of running feet.

The children were all asleep and Suki didn't stir as Sokka bent over the basket and secured his infant daughter in her blankets before ducking out of his home. In the glowing light of the moon and stars, Sokka walked the streets of his village until he was beyond the perimeter wall, utterly alone save for the warm bundle in his arms.

"This is Yukime," Sokka stated strongly. "Daughter of Sokka and Suki of the Southern Water tribe and a child of the moon. Bless her and guard her all her days and nights."

It wasn't that special and to anyone listening, it probably came off as foolish or anti-climatic. But spiritual things had never been Sokka's strength.

Yukime woke and fussed a little, opening large blue eyes to focus on her father's face. Sokka smiled at his daughter, chuckling when she smiled back. He held her close, rocking slightly back and forth.

"Hello, Sokka."

The wolf warrior spun around, reaching for the boomerang at his hip with one hand as the other curled protectively around his infant daughter.

He hadn't truly appreciated how much he had grown until he found himself staring down at Yue, exactly as he remembered her except for the soft glow emanating from her body.

"Yue," he breathed. She had never appeared to him before though he had felt her presence all these years. "Yue."

She smiled, that same soft smile that had ensnared him before. The boomerang fell from his hand and he reached hesitantly to stroke her cheek. His fingertips hovered over her skin, not daring to touch, but aching to. But it was not for a simple, mortal man to touch the divine so Sokka dropped his arm, smiling sheepishly.

"She's beautiful," Yue said, gazing at Yukime whose infant gaze had not left the spirit girl's form. "You and Suki make such lovely children."

"I'm lucky," Sokka said, knowing it was the absolute truth. He waited, working up the nerve to ask, before speaking again. "Why now?"

"This will be your last child," Yue answered gently. Then she smirked, an expression Sokka swore she had picked up from him. "You can tell Suki she doesn't need to worry about food cravings or labor pains ever again."

Sokka smirked back. "Damn. I thought she'd eventually learn to like sea prunes after eating them during each pregnancy."

Yue laughed and it felt like a balm on Sokka's soul. Yukime gurgled happily, wriggling one arm free of the heavy quilt, reaching for Yue. Sokka watched as Yue offered her ethereal hand for the infant girl's grip, stroking the baby's cheek with her other hand.

"Bors will be a strong warrior and a strong chief," Yue told him, still staring at Yukime. "He won't leave the South Pole often. He will be the rock and anchor of his siblings."

"Rhia will also be a warrior, but like none that have ever preceded her. She will have Suki's determination and balance, but your instincts and creativity. She will be a protector of the small and weak."

"Korin will be a powerful water bender, like Katara. He will be a tie between the North and South Poles, a traveler of the world and peacekeeper."

"And Yukime, she will be my voice, my song in the night. Her words will inspire a generation and more. She will echo through eternity."

Sokka was transfixed, staring at the infant girl in his arms when he felt cool lips kiss his cheek. Yue leaned back, extracting her hand from Yukime's grip and smiled once more.

"Thank you, Sokka."

"No, Yue. Thank you."

The moon spirit who had once been a girl smiled one last time and then faded in a soft glow. Sokka never saw her again, but he knew that her gaze and presence never left him or his family.


End file.
